Fab, the Global Phenom?

Fab.com cofounders Bradford Shellhammer and Jason Goldberg are taking their startup international just seven months after it launched as a flash-sales site focused on design.

Image: Fab.com

Fab.com, which may have to start its own newswire service if its new developments keep this pace (an acquisition two weeks ago, a big funding round last month), is going international, first in Canada within days, and then on to Europe.

The design-based site, which boasted 1.2 million members when it grabbed $40 million in a series B round last month, announced Thursday that it is now closing in on 2 million members in its seventh month as a flash-sales site. But that’s just part of the news. Fab.com CEO Jason Goldberg, who cofounded the site with Bradford Shellhammer—its top curator—as well as Deepa and Nishith Shah in India, and Veerle Pieters in Belgium, gives the full details in his blog.

In short, the fast-growing New York startup is announcing three things.

Going international. Fab will be opening its wares to Canada in a matter of days and Europe “shortly thereafter,” with Shellhammer and Goldberg having just visited Paris, Brussels, and Berlin to lay the groundwork.

Opening Fab "Shops." Similar to the pop-up shops that it introduced on its site earlier, Fab.com is now going to be adding more product verticals that members can browse and buy at a less frenetic pace. This will allow the company to grow its inventory of products from the 3,500 currently on the site as flash-sales items to more than 10,000 SKUs in areas such as fashion, pets, home accessories, outdoor, jewelry, pillow and throws. The addition will allow members to browse the site by various categories such as price, color and product type, but will retain the “unique, funky, curated Fab experience."

Open membership. Instead of having to wait to become a member of Fab.com, the site is now providing instant access.